Growing Together
by flirtingwithdeath
Summary: My first Cato/Clove fanfiction, I hope you all enjoy!
1. Encounter

**Encounter**

Clove Prior had just finished putting her 2 year old daughter Cailyn to bed on Christmas Eve when she heard a knock on her front door. She wasn't excepting any company because nobody talked to her after she became pregnant her sophomore year in high-school. Everyone in District 2 talked about who the father could be, since nobody knew who it was except for Clove, and she chose to not tell anyone. She walked down the stairs somewhat excited to see who was at the door. As she turned the handle and opened the door her excitement dropped, it was Cato Hadley. Cato was her ex-boyfriend and also the father of her daughter Cailyn, except he didn't know that he was the father. "Hi Cato" she said quietly. He stared at Clove for a minute before opening his mouth to speak,

"Who's is she" he said clearly. She knew it, she knew he would eventually come around to asking who's child it was.

"Who?" she replied trying to act confused, but failed terribly. He gestured his hand at the door,

"That baby. Sorry, never learned the name"

"Oh, her name is Cailyn. Do you want to come inside?" she steps back and opens the door a little wider. He shook his head and stared at Clove repeating his question in a more demanding tone,

"Who's is she."

"She's my daughter, and are you sure you don't want to come in? Its awfully cold out here due to all the snow" she gestures to the piles of snow around her small front garden facing the street. He walked over and firmly put his hands on her small wrists, bruising them a little.

"Who's is she!" he silently yelled at her, making it loud enough to startle her, but not the neighbors. She winces at the strength of his grip and looks at him hands on her wrists and mumbles,

"She's mine"

"No shit Clove. Was it the kid from down the street? A Capitol resident? Clove, don't torture me with his" he frenetically searches her eyes for answer but can't seem to find one. She looks down not saying anything as she feels her wresting beginning to throb from his strength. He sighs and lets go of her, taking a few steps back

"Why can't you tell me?" He gives a small laugh and runs his hand through his hair.

"You know, I suspected something was up with you when we broke up. But cheating?" His ice blue eyes brimmed with tears, he still wasn't over their break-up,

"Didn't know you'd do that Clove" he back away leaning against the railing of her porch. Clove looked at him confused, not comprehending what he was telling her.

"I wasn't the one who cheated Cato, you cheated on me when I was pregnant with our baby!" she steps back inside and slams the door shut sinking down the back of it feeling angry tears surface in her eyes as she buried her face in her hands.

Cato shot up off the ground and knocked on the door frantically. "Clove! Clover please open the door" he begged his voice softer than it usually it. Clove wipes away her tears and opens the door.

"What do you want now?!" her voice pained and angered. He walks in and hugs her, resting his forehead against the top of her head. He swallows and sputters,

"I…I didn't know it was…mine-ours…" She pushed him away disgusted,

"That still doesn't make it okay that you slept with my best friend!" His eyes began to fill with anger and hurt,

"I thought you slept with my best friend, what was I supposed to do Clove!? You were acting weird, not talking to me, you wouldn't even look at me. You never told me about the baby and you should have!" He straightened out and began running his hands through his hair again in anger and kicked the floor.

"Don't act like I'm the bad guy here!"

"I never slept with your best friend!" she spat disgusted "And the only reason I didn't tell you about the baby was because I was scared you were going to leave me but I guess you did that anyways!"

Right then, a small 2 year old little girl with bleach blonde hair and big brown dark chocolate eyes climbed down the stairs holding a stuffed rabbit, "What's wrong Mommy? And who is that man?" Cato stumbled back in hurt and surprise,

"I would never want to hurt you Clove, but I see its different for you" He began to hastily wipe a stray tear that found itself rolling down his cheek. He turned and looked at the little girl letting his voice soften

"Nothing. Nothing is wrong I was just talking to your mother" He gave the worst fake smile he'd given in months.

"I'll be going now" he swung open the door and started walking out back into the winter air.


	2. Home

**Home**

Cailyn followed Cato out slowly, wondering who the strange man he mom was talking to "Mister? Who are you?" she asks softly as little blonde hairs falling forward onto her face. Cato stops, snow falling onto him as he slowly turns towards the little girl who was apparently his. He stared at her speechless for a couple of moment registering everything about her; her big brown eyes, blonde hair, heart-shaped lips, rosy cheeks and small nose. He takes a few steps towards her and gets down to her level.

"I'm your Daddy" he says softly. She looks at him her eyes widening as she hears what he said,

"Daddy?" she whispers staring into his eyes. Cato stared back at her speechless and took her into his arms.

"Yeah, I'm Daddy" he whispered into her ear and he picked her up, still hugging her. Cailyn wrapped her little arms around his neck hugging him back as tightly as she could. Clove walked outside toward them but stopped at the doorframe, she watched Cato tear up holding Cailyn in his arms for the first time. She stayed by the doorframe watching them reunite.

"Are you leaving again?" Cailyn whispered into his neck. Something inside Cato broke them. He had left Clove, he knew that, he always had. Just now he realized that he left Cailyn as well as Clove. He moved his eyes up from the ground seeing Clove at the door and sets Cailyn down. He started walking towards Clove and stopped inches from her face.

"I didn't know you could leave something you didn't even know you had!" he took a few steps backwards,

"Yeah, come back I did. Only to find you've filled her head with lies of a father I didn't even know I was. Left? Really Clove? How do you think that makes me sound? Well it makes me seem pretty damn terrible." He turned and looks down at Cailyn and kneels before her once again.

"Cailyn, do you want me to come back? Do you think I'm a bad person?"

"All I want is a Daddy" she says softly looking down. Cato wanted to tell her that everything was going to be alright, but he didn't know if it would. He wanted to tell her he could be her father and be a good one, but he didn't know if he could do that. He'd missed so much of her life that their bond would never be as strong as it could've been if he had stayed with Clove.

"I want to be your Daddy Cailyn, I want to be your Daddy more than anything else in the world, and I swear if your Mommy lets be your Daddy, I'll be the best one ever" he pushes away stray pieces of blonde hair away from her face. He looked at Clove and directed his attention towards her.

"Please Clove? Can I be apart of her life now?" Clove looked at him then back at Cailyn seeing a connection already forming between them. She wanted to bring Cato into Cailyn's life, but wasn't sure how it would work out because he had missed 2 whole years of her life, and 2 years of her own life.

"I guess you can…" she shrugs and looks at them. He stands up and goes over to hug her,

"Oh Clover! This is the best thing that could've happened!" he hugged her tightly and buried his face in her neck. She half smiled and hugged him back,

"I'm glad you're happy" she pulled away and looked at him. He looked back into her chocolate brown eyes, and leaned down softly kissing her on the lips. Clove was shocked at first, but kissed him back softly, closing her eyes, realizing how much she missed that touch. That small touch of their lips that she hadn't had in a long time. She pulled away and looked down.

"Cato? What was that for?"

"I miss you Clove, I really miss you" he says looking down at her placing his hands on her waist. She felt something in her chest, she missed him too. She missed spending cold nights with him snuggled under a blanket, writing cheesy notes to each other, and she just missed being with him.

"I miss you too Cato, will you come home?" she tilted her head up to look at him. He wondered home? What did she mean by home? Then it hit him, home was with her and Cailyn. Being a father to Cailyn and a boyfriend to Clove, or at least he thought it meant being a boyfriend to her.

"Home" he repeated and met her small, yet powerful gaze.

"Of course I'll come home, I'm coming home to Cailyn..." he paused "And I'm coming home to you" he smiled down at her and gave her a kiss on the forehead before turning and picking up Cailyn, bringing her inside with Clove following close behind.


End file.
